It's official, the Syracuse Orange are the No. 1 team in the land, as chosen by both the media voters in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well as the coaches in the USILA Division I Coaches Poll, both of which were released this morning. Both polls saw a narrow gap between the two-time defending NCAA Champs and Duke, which was chosen as the preseason No. 1 by IL Staff in Face-Off Yearbook.

The fact that four teams got No. 1 votes from the media and the coaches were nearly 50-50 on Syracuse and Duke (the Orange got five No. 1 votes to 4 for the Blue Devils), it's pretty obvious that things are relatively wide open in the eyes of the folks that follow the game the closest as to who will be the best when all is said and done. Below, we run down the list of where each team wound up in each of the three major preseason rankings (Nike/IL, USILA and Face-Off), and a few thoughts as to how they wound up there.

Who do you think is going to take it over when all is said and done? Vote in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Preseason Rankings

1. Syracuse(2nd Face-Off)
The 'reload-not-rebuild' mode is always in play for the Orange, but in our internal discussions when ranking squads for the yearbook, the folks that went against 'Cuse as No. 1 felt like they lost too much to graduation to be a clear-cut No. 1. John Desko and his staff are the best in the biz at building a complete squad every year despite losing massive talent, but there are still question marks as to who is going to fill certain roles for Syracuse.

2. Duke(1st Face-Off)
Probably the most talented team out there, the knock on Duke seems to be that they've never done it before despite having the talent in years past. A scrimmage win over Team USA looks good today (for the record, it was after the votes were tallied), but means absolutely nothing for the upcoming season other than confirm what we already knew about how good they were.

3. Virginia(Unanimous)
Huge losses at attack leave Steele Stanwick in charge of a unit that will have two new starters. The midfield will be outstanding, but will it be enough to give the young guys up front a chance to gel?

4. North Carolina(Unanimous)
Looking forward to see how this team puts it together. The ACC is going to be brutal.

5. Johns Hopkins(6th Face-Off)
Experienced attack and a great leader in Mike Kimmell, but will the defense be better than a year ago?

6. Cornell(5th Face-Off)
Some in the discussion felt that having Cornell in the Top 5 was way too high in light of their losses at midfield and on defense, but a lot of people have faith in Jeff Tambroni's ability to lean on his talented attack to keep at the top of the Ivy League.

7. Princeton(8th USILA, 8th Face-Off)
The Tigers return a lot of talent but have been (perhaps unfairly) dropped in people's esteem because of longtime coach Bill Tierney's bolting for Denver. I'm willing to bet Chris Bates knows how to get the ball into Jack McBride's stick too.

8. Maryland(7th USILA, 7th Face-Off)
An interesting spot for a Terps team that has worlds of potential at attack but failed to meet (arguably far too high) expectations last year. With a year under their belt together, will things be different? Also, how big of a factor is the return of Brian Farrel?

9. Notre Dame(Unanimous)
The Big East is not the GWLL, but Scott Rogers is still Scott Rogers.

10. Hofstra(Unanimous)
A lot of people feel like Hofstra is going to pass a lot of the squads ahead of it in these rankings and maybe run to M&T Bank Stadium. I'm really interested in seeing how Jay Card and Denver transfer Jamie Lincoln work together at attack.

11. Navy(12th Face-Off)
The Mids have a ton of competition to face in the Patriot League, but for now they find themselves as the PL's top vote-getter.

12. Harvard(14th USILA, 11th Face-Off)
The first team with a significant division in rankings from one poll to the other, the coaches aren't as sold on John TIllman's crowd as the media voters.

13. Georgetown(Unanimous)
Another very interesting placement - I feel like the voters put Georgetown below where their talent dictates they could wind up, because they've dissapointed in recent years. The Big East will be a tough place to do work, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the Top 10 by the end of the season.

14. UMBC(T-11th USILA)
Lots of talent graduated, but Don Zimmerman's squad has owned the AE in recent seasons and it's their drivers seat until somebody (Albany?) forces them out. They'll need some midfielders to step up in a big way.

15. Brown(16th USILA)
Good skill up and down the roster, but voters are gunshy when you have to replace somebody like Joradan Burke in net. They could definitely make a run in the Ivy.

16. Loyola(15th USILA)
The Greyhounds have great depth but lack the marquee name with PT Ricci and Shane Koppens graduated. Might have to win the ECAC to assure a bid since they lose the SOS boost that Syracuse was good for on the schedule.

17. UMass(Unanimous)
A lot of question marks with most of their scoring gone. A rough start could see the Garber Gorillas plummet off the rankings, but Greg Canella usually gets things together.

18. Denver(NR USILA, 17th Face-Off)
The Pioneers were nowhere near the Top 20 at the end of last spring, but then they hired that new guy... Can't think of his name...

19. Bucknell(Unanimous)
Another dark horse, some feel they could be the class of the PL in 2010 with a stacked attack. We'll learn a lot when they open against Duke.

20. Albany(18th USILA)
The recruiting coup of the fall made headlines, but those guys aren't at school yet. But Scott Marr's group has plenty of scoring ability to work with and have a very real shot at winning the AE.

NR. Colgate (20 USILA)
Huge losses. Huge. But they weren't a one-man team a year ago and a slightly down PL allows a little room for error as people step into new roles.